USA > Washington > Spokane County > Spokane > History of the city of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume III > Part 39
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Following the arrival of Mr. Anderson in Spokane, in 1890, he engaged in various occupations, was connected with commission houses and traveled all over the west. visiting Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Portland. Eventually he estab- lished a permanent residence in Spokane and embarked in the grocery business, opening the Eagle Cash Grocery Store in 1891. In this business he has since con- tinned. his location being at No. 927 Sprague avenue. He has not confined his at- tention and energies to a strict line of trade but has extended his efforts into other fields which have been equally important as factors in promoting the business ac- tivity and consequent development and prosperity of the city and the northwest and is interested to a considerable extent in city property in Spokane and owns one thousand acres of fine wheat land in southern Alberta, Canada.
In 1896 Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Miss Carrie M. Hetts, of Detroit, Michigan, a daughter of Valentine Hetts, who was a wholesale shoe mer- chant of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are now parents of three children, Bernadine. Edwin and Katherine. Mr. Anderson is a republican in his political convictions. He belongs to the Elks lodge of Spokane, to the Knights of Pythias and to the Inland Club. His friends, and they are many, find him a social, genial gentleman whose unfeigned cordiality is the source of his popularity.
WILLIAM MARSHALL CHAMBERS.
William Marshall Chambers, the well known grain merchant of Pullman, Whit- man county, Washington, was born in Benton county, Oregon, November 15, 1818. his parents, being Roland and Lovisa ( King) Chambers, the father a native of Illi- nois and the mother of lowa. Roland Chambers with his family crossed the great plains in 1844 with an ox team from lowa, joining one of the first big trains which had about that time begun crossing the great American prairies. On reach- ing the Pacific slope be settled in Benton county. Oregon, and it was there that the boyhood days of the son. William Marshall Chambers, were spent. and there he attended the district schools, acquiring a good common-school education. It was also in that place that he received his first training in farm work on the homestead of his father. In 1870 he began a course of study in the Philomath
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College of Benton county, and in 1873. having completed the course, laid aside his text-books to enter the employ of the government on the Siletz Indian reserva- tion as elerk. There he remained until 1877, when he began working on the Caseade loeks, being employed by the original contraetors, Platt, Chambers, Me- Bean & Company as bookeeper. In 1879 he reentered the service in the em- ploy of the government, this time oeeupying the position of chief elerk of the Caseade loeks, and remained in that position until 1881. In that year he re- moved to Moseow where he became bookkeeper for W. J. MeConnell & Company, who were dealers in general merchandise. He remained in that position until 1885, when he removed to Pullman where as one of the partners of MeConnell, Chambers & Company he engaged in the general merchandising business. This relationship continued until 1893, in which year as result of the hard times and the general depression all over the country and especially the northwest the busi- ness was elosed out. Mr. Chambers subsequently engaged in the grain business, first under the firm name of Chambers. Priee & Company and then under his own name. During his business eareer he has been interested in the ownership of lands in the Palonse country, of which interests. however, he has now mostly disposed.
Mr. Chambers gives his political support to the republican party but he has never been an office seeker and has only taken a moderate interest in polities. He is a charter member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 249, of Moscow, and he belongs also to the Pullman Club. The business experiences of Mr. Chambers have been wide in seope and his undertakings of benefit to the communities in which he has resided. He has always been regarded as a splendid eitizen and has taken an active interest in the welfare of Pullman and assisted to the extent of his ability, which has been considerable, in the upbuilding of Whit- man county. He has great faith in the northwest, a country in which he sees boundless opportunities. He has a very large circle of close personal and busi- ness friends who have always regarded him with the highest respeet and esteem.
WILL G. GRAVES.
Will G. Graves, a Spokane lawyer of ability and prominence, has had the distinction of having been one of only three demoeratie members of the Washington senate, in which he served from 1903 to 1911, and while this preeluded any pos- sibility of the passage of party measures, it did not prevent his ready and helpful cooperation in various projects which looked beyond partisanship to the welfare of the commonwealth. His work has indeed been of worth as a factor in the legis- lation of the state during the past eight years. He is equally well known in the praetiee of law in Spokane. where a large elientage has been aeeorded him. He was born May 18, 1866, and is the youngest of the four sons of John J. and Or- rilla Landon (Berry) Graves. The aneestral records show that the Graves family were among the leading colonial families of Virginia, the first representative of the name in America being Captain Thomas Graves. who arrived at Jamestown as a passenger on the William and Mary, which was the second ship to make the voyage, arriving in 1608, the year following the establishment of the Jamestown colony. He became a prominent and influential eitizen and his name appears on
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a monument erected to commemorate the assembling the first Virginia house of burgesses that convened at Jamestown in June, 1619, he being one of the mem- bers of that body. Representatives of the name continued to reside in Accomac county. Virginia, until after the United States had won her independence. Then the great-grandfather of Will G. Graves removed to Boone county, Kentucky, where he located on a land grant given him in recognition of services which he had rendered to the Canadian government. It was in his honor that Graves county. Kentucky, was named. His son was Major Reuben Graves, a soldier of the War of 1812, who held the rank of major in Colonel Johnson's regiment in the campaign against the Indians, of which the battle of Tippecanoe was the chief feature. On that occasion he secured the tomahawk of the famous Indian chief, Tecumseh, and it still remains a cherished heirloom in the family to this day. He was likewise a distinguished officer of the Mexican war. He continued to reside in Kentucky until, wishing to get away from what he regarded as the baneful influences of slavery, he removed with his family to Ilinois after freeing his saves and disposing of his property in Kentucky. The journey was made with a caravan composed of sixteen families and they founded the town of St. Marys, in Hancock county.
His son. John J. Graves, was born October 18. 1819, at the old homestead. on the land which his grandfather had received as a grant from the government. He went with his family to Ilinois and. devoting his life to agricultural pursuits. became one of the large landowners of that part of the state and a helpful factor in its development and progress. He subscribed liberally to the stock of the Burlington railroad and with his neighbors assisted in building that section of the line which extends from Galesburg to Quiney. Ile married Orrilla Landon Berry, a representative of one of the old New England families, her father having been Dr. Jonathan Berry, of Grand Isle. Vermont, who was chief surgeon on the American flagship at the battle of Plattsburg, in the War of 1812.
Will G. Graves spent the first twenty-three years of his life in the state of his nativity and his experiences and advantages were those which usually fall to the lot of the farmer boy. As his father was in very comfortable financial circum- stances he was enabled to pursue his education beyond the point of the public schools and thus become well equipped for life's practical duties. His elder brothers. Frank H. and Jay P. Graves, came to Spokane in 1881 and 1887, respec- tively, and their favorable reports of the developing northwest caused Will G. Graves to make his way to this section of the country in the fall of 1889. After a brief stay in Spokane he went to Ellensburg and, devoting his attention to the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1892. For four years he practiced at that place but in the spring of 1896 returned to Spokane, where he formed a partner- ship with his brother, Frank HI. Graves, a business association which is still main- tained, the firm having from the first occupied a creditable and enviable position among the practitioners of the city. His business has constantly increased in volume and importance and he seems at home in all departments of the law, prov- ing a strong advocate and a safe counselor.
Aside from his profession his most important public work has been in the field of legislation. Something of his personal popularity and the confidence re- posed in him are indicated in the fact that in 1902. in a strong republican district -the sixth-he was elected. a democratic nominee, to the state senate and in 1906
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he was reelected, becoming one of three democratic members of that body in 1910. During the first two sessions of his service he was chairman of the committee on constitution and constitutional revision, and later was made chairman of the judiciary committee, in which connection he has rendered valuable service to his state. He is not unknown in business circles outside of his profession and is now a trustec of the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad Company, of the Inter- national Coal & Coke Company and a director of the Traders National Bank.
In 1891 Mr. Graves was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca Feek, a daugh- ter of Asahel Feek, of Seattle, and they have one surviving child, a son. Paul Hyde Graves. Identified with Spokane and the Inland Empire for twenty-two years. Will G. Graves has long since established his position as one of the prom- inent lawyers and representative citizens who, taking up the work begun by the pioneers, has builded upon the foundation which the pioneers laid an imposing superstructure of stability and worth that is keeping Washington abreast in all the different lines of progress and improvement with the older states of the east.
CHARLES MORRIS MECKLEM.
Charles Morris Mecklem, who is successfully engaged in the drug business at Palouse, Whitman county, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 22, 1857, his parents being Eli and Margaret (Collins) Mecklem, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Ireland.
Charles M. Mecklem attended the public schools in Pennsylvania until 1866, when he was nine years of age. In that year his parents removed to Ohio and there he continued in the public schools and later became a student at the Hayes- ville Academy and afterward in the Mansfield Normal School. In 1876 he rented a farm and during that same winter took up the profession of school teaeli- ing. which he followed for some time. His father having passed away when he was nine years of age, the support of the family early devolved upon him. In the spring of 1880 he came to Washington and located twelve miles southeast of Colfax. later becoming principal of the Palouse public schools. In 1881 he was made assistant principal of the Colfax school but in 1882 he entered G. W. Suther- land's drug store as an apprentiee and remained there until 1885, receiving in that year a certificate as a registered pharmacist. He then became head clerk in the Pioneer Drug Store in Colfax. In 1886 he accepted a position as mail clerk on a railroad but in the fall of the same year was elected county school superin- tendent. In that year he was the only demoerat who was elected in the county, a fact which shows his popularity among the residents there. In 1889 he moved to Palouse and established a drug store under the firm name of Mecklem & Ells- worth and continued under that name until 1903, when he purchased the interest of Mr. Ellsworth and has since continued in that store under the firm name of the Mecklem Pharmacy. He has been very successful in the financial world and among his other interests he is a stockholder and a director of the National Bank of Palouse.
At Spokane. in May, 1891, Mr. Mecklem was married to Miss Mary Babb, who was born in Iowa, a daughter of John and Margaret Babb. To Mr. and Mrs.
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Mecklem have been born two daughters, Quevenne and Zelva, both of whom are students in the Washington State College. In his political relations Mr. Meeklem is a democrat and he has ever taken an active interest in local party measures. He is greatly interested in educational work as evinced by the offices he has held, having been county school superintendent in 1886 and school director for several terms. Fraternally he belongs to the Masons, having filled all the chairs in the local lodge, and he also belongs to Pullman Chapter, No. 31, R. A. M. He is likewise identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, hay- ing tilled all the chairs in his lodge, and is a member of the Encampment, also the last representative to the Grand Lodge of the state of Washington. He is identi- fied with the Woodmen of the World and with the Improved Order of Red Men. Also socially he is a member of the Palouse Business Men's Association. Mr. Meeklem's success in the business world is the result of honest endeavor and dis- criminating foresight in his business relations. He has made an honorable record and is recognized as one of the leading citizens of Whitman county.
JOHN A. HENRY.
John A. Henry, the extent and importance of whose business interests make him one of the prominent real-estate brokers of Spokane, is now operating under the firm name of J. A. Henry & Company. He was born in Eureka, Humboldt county, California, on the 22d of October, 1876, his parents being Francis and Phoebe ( Davis) Henry. The father, who is of Irish descent, was born in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1827. He was one of the pioneer lumbermen of Hm- boldt county, and his death occurred in 1907. The mother, who is of English de- seent, was also born in New Brunswick, and is at present living in Eureka, Cali- fornia. She has one brother, George L. Davis, who is a prominent banker and lumberman of Hoquiam, Washington. To Mr. and Mrs. Heury six children were born: Hiram, George and Wellington, all of whom are living in Humboldt county ; John A., of Spokane: Mrs. Margaret Getchell of Bayside. California: and Mrs. Alfretta Rice, of San Diego, California.
John A. Henry acquired his education in the public and high schools of Eureka. and later took a course in a business college. After his graduation from the latter institution he accepted a position as private secretary to E. G. Eames, general manager of the Puget Mill Company remaining there two years at the end of which time he entered the employ as secretary of the Grays Harbor Lumber Company. an organization which had been brought about by his unele who had erceted a mill at Grays Harbor, Washington. After Mr. Henry had occupied that position for some time, the firm having changed hands, he became connected with the lum- ber interests at Eureka as assistant secretary of the Lumber Association for four years. In 1906 he left that city and went to the San Francisco office immediately after the remarkable earthquake in that city. He remained there one year before coming to Spokane and becoming J. L. Drumheller's private secretary, and seere- tary and treasurer of many companies with which Mr. Drumheller was connected. among these being the Sand Point Water & Light Company. of which Mr. Drum- heller is president and principal owner. Much of the responsibility of this organ-
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ization fell upon Mr. Henry's shoulders, and the success which was theirs was due to a large degree to his ability. Mr. Henry was affiliated with Mr. Drumheller from 1907 to 1909, and he looks upon these two years as one of the most suecess- ful and profitable periods of his business career. Subsequently he engaged inde- pendently in the real-estate business and is at present carrying on a general real- estate, rental and insurance business. He is agent for the Scott-Robertson prop- erty, consisting of the Idaho and Chemical buildings located on Sprague avenue between Wall and Howard streets. He deals in both inside and outside property, buying and selling, and is today one of the most prominent real-estate brokers in Spokane.
Mr. Henry was a member of the Eureka Reserve Naval Militia for three years but was not called to the Spanish war. They cruised up and down the coast as auxiliary to the cruiser Badger, during the time that Mr. Henry served as a blue jacket.
At Kennewiek, Washington, on the 29th of June, 1907, Mr. Henry was mar- ried to Miss Mabel Haney, a daughter of H. B. Haney, a retired agriculturist now living in Spokane and one of the pioneers of Kennewick. Mrs. Henry is prom- inent in musical circles and at the present time is solo soprano at the First Presby- terian church. Before her marriage she studied in Minneapolis Conservatory and also at Berkeley, California.
Politically Mr. Henry is a stalwart republican and has at all times been ac- tively engaged in the interests of his party. He served as secretary of the Young Men's Republican Club at Eureka, and has been delegate to various county con- ventions. He holds membership in the Vincent Methodist Episcopal church, Ori- ental Lodge, No. 71. A. F. & A. M. and the Inland Club. He is a shrewd and keen-sighted businessman and one who knows real-estate in all its details, and is able to conduct his business enterprises so that they turn ont to his financial advantage and to the benefit of the city.
KING PRINCE ALLEN.
King Prince Allen, who has been postmaster of Pullman for the past nine years. was born in Ohio on the 9th of November, 1841, and is a son of Ira and Rebecca (Calkins) Allen, both members of old colonial families and natives of Vermont. In the paternal line he is descended from the same branch of the family as Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame, while his maternal ancestors came to America on the Mayflower.
The education of King Prince Allen was pursued in the schools of his native state until 1851 when he accompanied his people on their removal to Michigan. He continued his studies there until the 21st of April, 1861, when he enlisted in Com- pany I, Second Michigan Infantry, under Colonel I. B. Richardson, and went to the front as a private. He participated in many notable engagements, including the battle of Fredericksburg, the seven-days' fight at Malvern Hill, and the battles of Vieksburg, the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, and was slightly wounded on two occasions. On the 23d of July, 1861. he was discharged at Detroit, Michigan, his service covering a period of three years and ninety days, having begun his military
Κ. P. ALLEN
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career on the 22d of April, 1861. Upon his return to civil life, he entered his fath- er's blacksmith shop where he learned the trade. In 1867 together with a brother he returned to Homer, Michigan, and there established a shop which they conducted until 1880. when Mr. Allen turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He en- gaged in farming in Michigan and the Dakotas for six years and at the expiration of that period took up a quarter section of government land in Dakota which he cultivated for a time. Later he resumed his trade. remaining a resident of that state until 1889, when he came to Pullman and established a blacksmith shop, con- ducting the same until March, 1902. when he disposed of his business to enter upon the duties of postmaster, to which office he had been appointed by President Roose- velt, by whom he was reappointed to the same office in 1906 and again by President Taft in 1910. That Mr. Allen has proven efficient and has discharged his duties in a manner highly satisfactory to the community at large is manifested by the long period of his service. He is in every way well qualified for the office, and fulfills his responsibilities with a rare sense of conscientious obligation to the public.
At Marengo, Michigan, on the 20th of October. 1864, Mr. Allen was united in marriage to Miss Susan M. Gerow. a native of the state of New York and a daugh- ter of S. N. and Diana (Townsend) Gerow. In the paternal line she is of French extraction, her father having been born in France, while her mother is descended from one of the old colonial families of New York. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Allen is as follows: Ada, who married Judge Thomas Neill of Colfax, by whom she has two children: Wilfred, who is also married and has two children: Dora, the wife of J. C. Taylor, of Dawson, North Dakota, and the mother of four children; Ira G., of Seattle, who is married and has two children; Carrie, who married Henry Blanchard, became the mother of one child and has passed away; Della, who mar- ried H. L. Oliver, of Oregon, by whom she has had one child; Fay, the wife of R. M. Van Dorn. of Pullman: and Karl P., also of this city.
Mr. Allen is adjutant and quarterimaster of Whitman Post, No. 53, G. A. R., and he was senior vice department commander of the department of Washington and Alaska, while in politics he is a republican. He is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Pullman, where he has many friends, whose regard he has won and re- tained through his personal worth.
HOMER LEWIS ROUSE.
Homer Lewis Rouse is one of the well known business men of Garfield, Whit- man county. who has identified himself with the commercial interests there, his labors not only being a source of profit to himself but constituting an element of general prosperity. He has lived in Washington for many years and has been an interested witness of its growth and progress. He was born in Cass county. Nebraska, on the 20th of May, 1871. and is a son of John S. and Sarah (Scoggin) Rouse. natives of lowa and Wisconsin respectively. His grandfather was John Rouse. a native and prominent resident of the state of lowa. His parents removed to Columbia county. Washington, when their son Homer L. was but a child. There his boyhood and youth were passed. and the public schools near Pomeroy afforded him his educational privileges. The father took a one hundred and sixty acre Vol. 111- 19
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preemption elaim south of Pomeroy and upon it operated a sawmill. His son im- mediately beeame associated with him in business, and at the age of twelve years worked in the woods driving four yoke of eattle. He was thus employed until 1891 when the family removed to Adams county, the father taking up an eighty aere homestead and one hundred and sixty aeres under the timber enlture aet. Again Homer L. Rouse aided in his father's agricultural undertakings and was thus occupied until 1897 when he desired to farm independently. At that time he took up a one hundred and sixty aere homestead five miles southeast of Lind, Adams county, and so profitably did he eultivate this property that within a short time he had inereased his holdings to four hundred and ninety aeres. During the ten years he held this property he was given opportunity to put into practice the various theories he had formulated while in his father's employ and to try out many of the modern and seientifie agricultural principles. In 1907 he disposed of his farm and removed to Potlatch. Idaho, where he again engaged in agricultural pursuits for one year. Subsequently he removed to Garfield and entered the real- estate business in partnership with C. E. Averill, under the firm name of the Gar- field Land Company. He is still engaged in real estate and because of his enter- prising spirit and untiring efforts he has won a suecess which attests his knowl- edge of property values and the extent of his patronage.
On the 10th of October, 1898, in Adams county, Mr. Rouse was married to Miss Ida Richardson, who is a daughter of Amos and Mary (Griffith) Richardson, natives of Wisconsin and Georgia respectively. To this union two children have been born, Homer Loraine and Gladys. In political views Mr. Rouse is a demo- erat and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day. His relig- ious faith is indieated by his membership in the Christian ehnreh. He is regarded as a progressive, energetic and prosperous business man, and occupies a very prominent position in the commercial eireles of Garfield and vieinity. being fre- quently consulted on business matters, his advier being always impartial and his judgment considered sound. He has aided materially in the upbuilding and ad- vaneement of the county and in his private interests has so managed his affairs that he has made steady and substantial progress, being now numbered among the men of influence of Garfield.
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